The apparatus can in this respect in particular be used with such automated handling procedures in which randomly arranged workpieces are detected by an object recognition device and a control of the gripper takes place using the data of the object recognition device to place the workpieces on the intermediate station. The apparatus in accordance with the invention can, however, also be used with other automated handling procedures.
It is the object of the present invention in this respect to provide an apparatus which allows a reliable and flexible handling of workpieces with process security.
This object is solved in accordance with the invention by an apparatus in accordance with claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the present invention form the subject of the dependent claims.
The present invention shows an apparatus for the automated handling of workpieces having at least one gripper for picking the workpiece, a control for controlling the at least one gripper and an intermediate station for placing down the workpiece. In accordance with the invention, the apparatus is configured in this respect such that the workpiece is placed on the intermediate station in a defined position and/or in a defined orientation and is picked up again with a changed orientation and/or with a greater accuracy.
The present invention thus allows a workpiece which was already able to be picked or placed with a certain accuracy to be picked up again in a first embodiment variant with greater accuracy due to placing on the intermediate station and a repeat picking.
Alternatively or additionally, the placing of the workpiece can serve to pick up the workpiece again with a changed orientation toward a gripper. This is in particular important when a workpiece can be picked up with different orientations toward the gripper, but can only be arranged at a target receiver with a defined orientation toward the gripper. In this case, the intermediate station in accordance with the invention can be used to achieve this orientation toward the gripper by placing and picking up again with a changed orientation.
The present invention can in this respect in particular be used as a part of an apparatus which serves the automated arrangement of the workpieces at a target receiver, wherein the at least one gripper is controlled so that the workpiece picked up from the intermediate station is arranged with the desired orientation and/or accuracy at the target receiver.
The target receiver can in this respect be a receiver of a transport apparatus which transports the workpiece to a machining station. The workpiece can, however, also be arranged directly at a machining station, starting from the intermediate station, with the intermediate station in this case also being able to take over a transport function.
The at least one gripper to place down the workpiece and/or to pick up the workpiece again is particularly preferably a mechanical gripper. Such a mechanical gripper allows good accuracy in the placing down and picking up of the workpiece. Alternatively, however, a pneumatic and/or magnetic gripper can also be used.
In a first embodiment variant of the present invention, the same gripper can in this respect be used both for placing down the workpiece and for a repeat pick-up of the workpiece.
Alternatively, two separate grippers can be used, i.e. a first gripper for placing the workpiece down and a second gripper for picking it up again. Advantageously, in this case, the two grippers can be moved separately, in particular by two separate gripping arms at which the grippers are each arranged. Alternatively, the two grippers can, however, also be arranged at a common gripping arm.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the intermediate station includes at least one receiver in which the workpiece can be placed down in a defined position and/or orientation. Such a receiver thus enables a placing down in accordance with the invention of the workpiece in a defined position and/or orientation on the intermediate station. Advantageously, the receiver is in this respect specifically matched to the workpiece and takes up the workpiece in this respect in a defined position and/or orientation.
Advantageously, the receiver in this respect allows a picking of the workpiece with at least two different orientations of the gripper toward the workpiece, for example a picking from two sides. This in particular allows the orientation of the gripper relative to the workpiece to be varied by placing down and picking up again. In this respect, a change in the orientation of the workpiece can in particular take place in that it is placed down while gripped from one side and is picked up again while gripped from the other side.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the intermediate station and/or the receiver comprises a compensation apparatus which allows an inaccurate placing down. Provision can in particular be made in this respect that the receiver is arranged at the intermediate station with a certain play and thus yields correspondingly on an inexact placing of the workpiece.
The placing down in a defined position in the sense of the present invention thus also comprises a placing down in a defined region which is defined, for example, by the movability of the receiver or of the compensation apparatus.
Further advantageously, a positioning arrangement can be provided which arranges and/or fixes the workpiece and/or the compensation apparatus in a predefined position and thus allows a more accurate picking of the workpiece.
Furthermore, the intermediate station can have a travel arrangement by which the workpiece and/or the receiver is traveled on the intermediate station. Advantageously, in this respect, abutments and/or fixing regions are provided toward which the workpiece and/or the receiver is traveled for fixing and/or positioning. This in particular allows the accurate positioning of a workpiece placed on the intermediate station with a inaccuracy permitted despite the defined placing down.
Provision can furthermore be made that the receiver can be traveled from a placing position into a removal position. This on the one hand makes it possible that the placing down of a workpiece takes place in a different position than the picking up so that they impede one another less, in particular on the use of two grippers.
Provision can furthermore be made that the receiver has a compensation apparatus which is movable in the placing down position, which allows a non-accurate placing down and can be fixed and/or positioned by traveling into the removal position. The workpiece can hereby be picked more accurately in the removal position.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of receivers are arranged next to one another. The receivers are in this respect in particular arranged next to one another transversely to the respective traveling direction.
The apparatus can in this respect furthermore have a plurality of receivers for receiving workpieces. The receivers can in this respect in particular serve as a storage apparatus so that the intermediate station in accordance with the invention serves as a store in addition to the repeat picking with greater accuracy and/or changed orientation. Alternatively or additionally, the receivers can also serve the further transport of the received workpieces. The receivers are, for example, arranged on a transport belt for this purpose.
Furthermore, an apparatus in accordance with the present invention can have a functional region and/or a functional arrangement which, for example, serves the pretreatment, the recognition and/or the marking of the workpieces. It can in this respect be a demagnetization station, for example. It is equally conceivable to identify or to detect and/or to mark the workpieces by reading a label and/or by printing with a label.
Provision can therefore in particular be made that the receiver can be traveled from a placing position into a removal position, with the workpieces running through the functional arrangement on the traveling of the receiver. The receiver can in this respect in particular be movable in the placing position, as already presented above, and can be fixable on the traveling into the removal position. A dual function of the intermediate station hereby results.
The intermediate station in accordance with the present invention can in this respect be configured such that the picking back up of the workpiece from the intermediate station takes place without a detection of the position of the workpiece. The intermediate station can in particular be configured such that the workpiece is arranged so exactly at the intermediate station in its removal position that a detection of the workpiece is not necessary for the correct controlling of the gripper with which the workpiece is removed.
The workpiece is, in contrast, advantageously detected by an object recognition device in order hereby to control the gripper which picks up the workpiece and places it on the intermediation station in accordance with the invention. In this respect, randomly arranged workpieces can in particular be detected by an object recognition device, wherein an identification of the workpieces and a selection of a workpiece to be picked take place by evaluation of the data of the object recognition device, with reference to which data a track planning takes place and the gripper is controlled.
The apparatus in accordance with the invention can in this respect be a part of a total apparatus for the automated removal of workpieces arranged in a container, which apparatus has a first object recognition device for detecting the workpieces and a first gripper for picking and removing the workpieces from a container as well as a control for evaluating the data of the first object recognition device, for track planning and for controlling the first gripper. The control can in this respect in particular comprise an evaluation device for evaluating the data, a track planning module for track planning and a control unit for controlling the gripper. Furthermore, this apparatus can comprise a first intermediate station onto which the first gripper places the workpiece after the removal from the container and can comprise a positioning apparatus which positions the workpieces more accurately and/or singularizes them, starting from the intermediate station.
The apparatus can in this respect in particular serve the removal of workpieces randomly arranged in the container since the position of the workpieces can be determined by a suitable object recognition device and therefore does not have to be known in advance. The apparatus can naturally, however, also be used when the workpieces are already present with a certain order in the container.
The first intermediate station can in this respect be an intermediate station in accordance with the present invention.
The intermediate station in accordance with the invention, on which the workpiece is placed in a defined position and/or orientation, is, however, particularly preferably a second intermediate station. Provision can in this respect in particular be made that the positioning apparatus places the workpiece on the second intermediate station in accordance with the present invention in a defined position and/or in a defined orientation and the workpiece is again picked up from the second intermediate station with a changed orientation and/or with greater accuracy.
Provision can be made in this case that the placing of the workpieces on the first intermediate station takes place randomly. The workpieces can in this respect in particular be dropped onto a placing region of the first intermediate station from a certain height. In this respect, a slanted plane is, for example, provided onto which the workpieces are dropped and from which they slide to a transport device.
Provision can in this respect furthermore be made that a repeat detection of the workpieces takes place on the intermediate station by a second object recognition device for the corresponding control of a gripper of the positioning apparatus.
In accordance with this invention, in this respect, a magnetic and/or pneumatic gripper, in particular a magnetic gripper, can be used as the first gripper with which the workpieces are removed from the container. This is in particular possible when the workpieces do not have to be placed on the first intermediate station with a defined position.
In contrast, a mechanical gripper is advantageously used as the positioning apparatus or as the gripper with which the workpieces are placed on the second intermediate station in accordance with the invention since it allows a more accurate placing down. Alternatively, however, a pneumatic and/or magnetic gripper can also be used here.
In accordance with the invention, the first gripper and/or the second gripper can be moved via automatically controlled adjustment axes of a gripping arm. In a first embodiment variant, the first gripper and the second gripper can in this respect be arranged at a common gripping arm and can be moved via it. The first and second grippers are, however, preferably arranged at separate gripping arms and can thus be moved independently of one another.
The present invention furthermore comprises an intermediate station for an apparatus such as was presented above.
The present invention furthermore comprises an intermediate station having a receiver in which the workpieces can be placed down in a defined position and/or orientation. Advantageously, the receiver allows a picking of the workpiece with at least two different orientations of the gripper toward the workpiece, for example a picking from two sides. Alternatively or additionally, the receiver can have a compensation apparatus which allows an inaccurate placing down.
The intermediate station is in this respect advantageously configured as has already been presented in more detail above with respect to the apparatus in accordance with the invention. Provision can in this respect in particular be made that the compensation apparatus can be fixed and/or positioned. Provision can furthermore be made that the receiver of the intermediate station is arranged in a displaceable manner, with the compensation apparatus advantageously being fixed and/or positioned by a displacement of the receiver.
Furthermore, a plurality of receivers can be provided for receiving workpieces. The receivers can in particular serve as a storage apparatus in this respect. Alternatively or additionally, the receivers can also serve the further transport of the received workpieces. The receivers are, for example, arranged on a transport belt for this purpose.
The present invention furthermore comprises a method for the automated handling of workpieces, wherein a workpiece is placed on an intermediate station in a defined position and/or in a defined orientation and is picked up again with a changed orientation and/or with greater accuracy. The workpiece is in this respect in particular placed on the intermediate station in a corresponding receiver.
Provision is in this respect advantageously made in accordance with the invention that the workpiece is placed on the intermediate station with a certain permitted inaccuracy and is positioned and/or fixed on it in a specific position for a more accurate picking Provision can alternatively or additionally be made that the workpiece is placed down while gripped from a first side for changing the orientation at the gripper and is picked up again while gripped from the other side.
The method in this respect advantageously takes place as was already presented above with respect to the apparatus. The method in accordance with the invention can in this respect in particular take place while using an apparatus in accordance with the invention.
The present invention furthermore comprises a computer program for the carrying out of a method as was presented above. In this respect, the computer program in particular comprises commands which implement the method in accordance with the invention on an apparatus for the automated handling of workpieces. The computer program in accordance with the invention can in this respect in particular be used for implementing a control for an apparatus in accordance with the invention as was presented above.
All the steps in the handling of the workpieces advantageously take place by the method in accordance with the invention and/or by the apparatus in accordance with the invention in a fully automated manner and without a user intervention being necessary.
The subject of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to embodiments and to drawings.